Guide to the Papers of Lord Sandwich, 1771-1784

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Summary

Collection number:
MS 7218
Creator:
Sandwich, John Montagu, Earl of, 1718-1792
Extent:
0.09 metres and (3 folders)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:
Items from this collection should be cited as '[title of manuscript item], Papers of Lord Sandwich, 1718-1792, National Library of Australia, MS 7218, [item number]'.
Availability:
Available
Access conditions:
Available for reference. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:
For over 150 years the papers of Lord Sandwich were kept at the family seat, Hinchingbrooke House, Huntingdonshire. In the 1950s they were transferred to Mapperton House in Dorset. Some of the naval papers were reproduced in The Sandwich Papers, published by the Navy Records Society in four volumes (1932-1936). They were also referred to in the edition of Captain Cook's voyages published by the Hakluyt Society (1955-1968), Warren R. Dawson's editon of The Banks letters (London, 1958) and Phyllis Mander-Jones' Manuscripts in the British Isles relating to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific (Canberra, 1972).
Biographical Note:

John Montagu (1718-1792), 4th Earl of Sandwich. Succeeded his grandfather to the Earldom in 1729.

Sandwich was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, and then spent some years travelling in Europe. His political career commenced when he was appointed a Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty in 1744. In 1748 he became First Lord of the Admiralty in the government led by Henry Pelham, holding the post until 1751. He was appointed Master of Trinity House in 1749.

In 1763-1765 Sandwich returned to power as Secretary of State under George Grenville. He was again briefly Secretary of State under Lord North in 1770-1771 and then became First Lord of the Admiralty again, holding the office for eleven years. In this post "his conduct was as great a scandal to public as it had been all along to private morality. Throughout his long administration he rendered the business of the Admiralty subservient to the interests of his party, and employed the vast patronage of the office as an engine for bribery and political jobbery". He was held in part responsible for the inadequacies of the British Navy in the American War of Independence. He took a strong interest in the second and third voyages of Captain James Cook to the Pacific. Cook named the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) after him in 1778.

Sandwich left the Admiralty in 1782 and largely retired from public life, spending most of his time at his country seat of Hinchingbrooke in Huntingdonshire.

Bibliographic Reference(s)

  • Martelli, George. Jemmy Twitcher : a life of the Fourth Earl of Sandwich, 1718-1792. London: Jonathan Cape, 1962.
Immediate Source of Acquisition:

For over 150 years the papers of Lord Sandwich were kept at the family seat, Hinchingbrooke House, Huntingdonshire. In the 1950s they were transferred to Mapperton House in Dorset. Some of the naval papers were reproduced in The Sandwich Papers, published by the Navy Records Society in four volumes in 1932-1936. They were also referred to in the edition of Cook's voyages published by the Hakluyt Society (1955-1968), Warren R. Dawson's edition of The Banks letters (London, 1958) and Phyllis Mander-Jones' Manuscripts in the British Isles relating to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific (Canberra, 1972).

Many of the papers were sold at a Sotheby's sale in London on 23 July 1985. Of the 17 lots, the National Library purchased three lots. Two other lots were bought by the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich.

Access and use

Conditions Governing Access:
The collection is available for research.
Conditions Governing Use:
Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.
Preferred citation:
Items from this collection should be cited as '[title of manuscript item], Papers of Lord Sandwich, 1718-1792, National Library of Australia, MS 7218, [item number]'.
Location of this collection:
Parkes Place
Canberra ACT 2600, Australia
Contact:
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